Hector Sanchez was the offensive star of a makeshift lineup as the Giants won a tight contest with a walkoff run in the bottom of the 12'th inning. Key Lines:
Buster Posey- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .310. Buster played 1B with a broken finger. He is obviously able to swing the bat OK.
Hector Sanchez- 3 for 5. BA= .281. The Hector accounted for 2 of the Giants 3 runs with an RBI and Adrianza scoring the game winner after pinch running for him. Hector is hitting .382 over his last 10 games and .288/345/.500 in 22 games/52 AB since the All-Star break. Sounds like Bochy is thinking seriously about a future of Hector doing most of the catching with Buster Posey playing some other position.
Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's ERA= 2.82. Good thing Bummy didn't have to deal with Hector Sanchez and his atrocious pitch framing.....wait, what?
Paul Goldschmidt(D'Backs)- 0 for 3, 2 IBB. Now THAT is more like it! Bochy has historically been reluctant to issue intentional walks to the opposing team's best hitter. Us old-timers can remember when he used to let Barry Bonds swing away against the Padres and we all thanked him profusely for that! When you are facing a team with 1 hitter who is head and shoulders above the rest of the lineup as Goldy is, you do not let him beat you!
The Rockies now come to town with Tim Lincecum facing Jhoulys Chacin in the opener Monday night.
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Apparently, Hector Sanchez IS good at baseball.
ReplyDeletePeter
I once dreamed Bumgarner anchoring a dominating dream rotation
ReplyDeleteI one time had a dream about Bummy walking off the field at AT&T Park after pitching a CG 1-0 shutout vs Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. We'll see if that one ever comes to pass.
DeleteFangraphs is working on a stat called Pitch-Type Linear Weights. It measures batters and pitchers based on the type of pitch thrown/seen. For pitchers, iff a fastball is a called strike, the pitcher's fastball linear weight goes up a little bit. If it strikes someone out, it goes up a little bit more. If it is hit for a home run, it goes down, etc. It doesn't factor in count or situation, so it isn't necessarily predictive of a situation. It is interesting to note that Madison Bumgarner is one of only 9 starters in baseball who has a positive score for all of his repetoire of pitches. There are five pitchers with all negative values in the big leagues, the worst: Barry Zito: -8.5 slider, -8.4 curveball, -7.0 fastball, and -4.4 change up. By comparison, Clayton Kershaw is: +31.6 fastball, +12.0 curveball, +7.0 slider, and -0.8 change up.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
DeleteSadly, if you calculate WAR the way that baseball reference calculates it, Barry Zito is the worst player in all of baseball, -2.5.
DeleteI'm not a big sabrematrician, but it really raises the question as to whether or not his career is over. To Zito's credit, he has never complained when pulled from the rotation or been left off of the post season roster (2010).
I think Zito is done. The Giants have all but said they will buy out is option. Maybe some other team might sign him for a very small contract or a minor league deal but It's hard to see him sticking with anyone with the stuff he's throwing up there right now. You never know, though. Players have come back from worse.
DeleteLooking back, Zito went from good to bad fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteMany good pitchers have suffered the same fate, though, often due to injuries.
Lincecum, with no visible injury, seems to face the same challenge.
It's hard to say if it's because of Timmy's size, because Zito is a tall guy.
I've always said that Timmy's delivery depends on elite athleticism, especially flexibility. The comp sport that requires flexibility is gymnastics and look at what age most gymnasts are done. Flexibility is one of the first things to go as we age.
DeleteYou have an interesting point.
DeleteNow we might have to re-consider bringing him back, even just for one year.
I'm torn on Timmy. Here's my druthers on him in order:
Delete1. Make QO. He declines and Giants get the comp draft pick plus sign a FA pitcher in the $8-10 M range.
2. Timmy accepts QO which only puts the Giants on the hook for 1 season and buys some time to evaluate how well he is aging.
3. Giants do not offer Timmy the QO and he leaves. Giants sign a FA pitcher to replace him, but do not get draft pick compensation.
4. Giants sign Timmy to a 2-3 year contract. Not what I would prefer but I could live with it.
5. Giants sign Timmy to a 4-5 year contract. This would be a terrible decision on their part at any price! Fortunately, I do not think they will do this.
4.